Comments on: Settling the Score: Saturday’s results

By: gloccamorra

gloccamorra — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 18:37:27 +0000

There were several exciting finishes yesterday, but there’s only the Giants-Astros write up? You didn’t even mention the shocking Dodgers loss that put the Giants back in first place. The pennant races are heating up, Drew, and by isolating one game to review, you’re letting a lot of juicy material go by.

By: APBA Guy

APBA Guy — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:54:20 +0000

The Bay Area Bombers? Only so long as you ignore the Twins worst-in-the-AL ERA. Last night in Minnesota four-4!- A’s homeruns. Who cared if Milone was effective or not (he was). The A’s are 2 over .500. Maybe this is the Mayan Apocalypse. Or maybe it’s an illusion created by playing Seattle and Minnesota in back to back series. The A’s better continue to pad because it’s the Rangers and Yankees starting tomorrow.

By: deathmonkey41

deathmonkey41 — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:37:13 +0000

It’s impressive how they keep winning- especially with CC and Andy on the shelf. I’m just still not sold that this brand of baseball is going to win in the playoffs though. Let’s see how they do against a shutdown pitcher like Weaver, where you have to bite and scratch for every run.

By: natslady

natslady — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:33:33 +0000

Didn’t understand the hair thing. Profanity OK, facial hair not OK? Fish played a much tighter game after the embarrassment Friday. Nats played well, too, but Buehrle and Cishak were not losing this one even with the Nats getting the benefit of a bad call on Desi (he clearly ran out of the basepaths after getting picked off, but called safe at second) which turned into the Nats’ only run. Cishak with a 5-out save–means he won’t be available today, right (hope hope hope) and we will get the usual Fish bullpen?

So, Desi not playing today. No, he didn’t “fake” an injury so he wouldn’t have to go to the All-Star Game, and we all knew he didn’t–but he still got slammed by the so-called expeeeeeeeeerts in the national media… Some serious pain in his last at-bat. Just when the endless DL list was shrinking (sigh) it could get bloated again.

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:19:15 +0000

Boston could still be a strong playoff team if healthy, but I think their odds of overtaking the Yanks to win the division are pretty slim. Even if they do, New York would really have to stink it up to miss the wildcards. .500 the rest of the way would likely be good enough to make the playoffs.

By: randygnyc

randygnyc — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:09:20 +0000

Yankees continue to defeat winning ballclubs, taking the first 2 games of the series with the Angels, clinching the series. Cano and Granderson supplied the home run power, knocking in all 5 for the Yankees. Garcia was hardly better than average, pitching 5 innings, giving up 3 in a winning effort. The Yankee bullpen was stellar, holding the angels scoreless in the final 4 inning.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:04:41 +0000

“Clutch” means a lot more than a stat. When you look at his slash line, you begin to see the rest of the picture: failure to get on base himself. Failure to move runners along. Stikeouts in all sorts of situations that might have set up runs for someone else to drive in (this last being hypothetical in the extreme, considering that the Feesh are among the worst in MLB with RISP overall). It all says as much about how he bears down with a guy on third as it does about where his head is at the rest of the time.

By: madhatternalice

madhatternalice — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 15:01:01 +0000

Still not sure what to make of these O’s. They got the Scherzer early and chased him after 5. Johnson blows it in the 9th, as the bullpen once again falters for Chen. No freak blown save this one. Flaherty’s error didn’t help, but JJ had trouble keeping the runners off base. O’s give up the pooch in the top of the 13th, thanks to a very wild and ineffective Lindstrom. But just as O’s fans were thinking of packing it in, Joaquin Benoit serves up 2 homers. It may not yet be time to call the Orioles done for the season, but these kinds of games need to be won in the 9th.

By: hcf95688

hcf95688 — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 14:41:34 +0000

“The Yankees just keep on winning. Of their 54 wins so far this season 47 have been against teams that are currently at or above .500…”

So, in other words, the Yankees are the bizzaro Giants, who seem to play the Astros every other homestand.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 14:12:53 +0000

church, not really overly concerned about the Red Sox getting healthy. Mainly because several of the replacement players have performed as good or better then those very starters, like Ross. Besides if the Yankees play the way they are capable of playing and get healthy as well I think they are “un-catachable” (if such a word exists) this year.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:44:17 +0000

I think the only reasonable explanation is that “Black Hole Buck” is a clutch player.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:13:58 +0000

I would love to be there when someone pitches the idea of passing vast sums of his own money under the table to Scrooge McLoria. You have a better chance of achieving reproducible results in a cold fusion experiment.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:12:01 +0000

With Potbelly Bell warming the pine, Steve Chisek – the people’s choice – came on and pitched a couple of scoreless innings to hold down the Gnats and eke out a win. Davey Johnson called it “classic National League ball” – get on, bunt over, score – and it worked last night because Mark Buehrle, unquestionably the best of the Feesh;s orfseason signings, was on top of his game. In the disappointment over Bell and Reyes this season, you can’t say enough about Buehrle’s yeomanly work. His W/L says more about the Feesh’s appalling offensive production than anything to do with his peetching performances. On the other hand, Emilio Bonifacio has returned from his long stint on the DL over a thumb injury having retired his moonface and sporting a distinctly edgy, me-n’-Julio-down-by-the-schoolyard beard and chops look.Almost unnoticed, the Feesh have let up on their prior no-facial-hair, goody gladgums grooming guidelines. Hey, this team will take infusions of attitude any way they can get it.

It was a nice win. Unfortunately, though, you can’t win divisions by constantly scratching out two runs a game. Today we see if Ricky Nolasco shows up, or if he sends his Euphorbia simulacrum to the party instead. So far this season the only thing that’s been consistent about Nolasco and his assortment of stand-ins has been their inconsistency.

Eentersting stat of the day: Black Hole Buck is batting .181 for the season (yes, he’s been on fire at the plate lately, raising his average from .179 only a week ago) yet he’s batting close to .245 with RSP.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:03:51 +0000

Not sure, but whatever it is maybe Jeffrey Loria should consider doing the same since he invested all the money in FA’s this past winter and not a lot to show for it. But thanks for your concern about how the Steinbrenners spend their money.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 12:54:16 +0000

How much are the Steinbrenners paying the rest of the league to roll over like this?

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 12:50:23 +0000

92.4% chance of making the playoffs per ESPN (BPro’s PECOTA is down) with an 8 game lead in the division. I’m still a bit nervous about Boston though, if they ever get healthy they could still be a dangerous team.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 12:43:20 +0000

The Yankees just keep on winning. Of their 54 wins so far this season 47 have been against teams that are currently at or above .500 and over the last 31 games the Yankees are 23-8 a whopping .742 winning percentage. In order to win 95 games the Yankees only have to play at a .547 clip over the remainder of their schedule, certainly very doable.